After the phenomenal success of their production of The Play that Goes Wrong (now nominated for an Olivier Award), it was with eager anticipation that a packed audience gathered in the theatre for Mischief Theatre Company’s first night of their Eastbourne run of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

Following an evening of slapstick and mayhem, laughter and tears, it was again a busy bar that welcomed the surprisingly unscathed members of this talented comic cast for the after-show reception. Rarely can the flouting of health and safety regulations in the name of art have been so entertaining and as Vice Chairman, Tricia Sneath, commented in her welcome it was truly remarkable not to see more bandages and sticking plasters after the on-stage antics!

It was particularly good to see some new faces amongst the Friends in the bar – and so many members of the cast after what must have been an exhausting performance.

From the moment the audience took their seats, things went wrong – actors and stage hands looking for lost tools and offering unsuspecting members hard hats for protection against falling hammers! Even reading through the programme was full of confusion – a play within a play and a maze of aliases until at last the cast members’ names themselves could be revealed.

What a wonderful precursor to our own pantomime later this year – which will hopefully be without the chaos of scenery malfunctions, flying disasters and sound and lighting glitches that had the audience unsure whether to wince with embarrassment or shed tears of laughter – this production certainly warmed them up for December!

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